SELINSGROVE, PA - The Susquehanna University field hockey team had a first-round bye already locked up going into their Tuesday-night regular season finale against Catholic. Both the River Hawks and Cardinals entered the fray in first and second-place, respectively, in the conference standings, with the matchup determining the top seed and home field advantage. Susquehanna had one thing extra to play for as a win meant the first undefeated conference regular season in program history, and wasted no time to get a piece of that action with an early goal towards a 3-0 victory.
The River Hawks complete their regular-season slate at 13-5 overall and 9-0 in conference play, while the Cardinals remained in second with a 7-2 league mark and 9-9 overall to each clinch first-round byes. They resume play next Wednesday in the Landmark Semifinals, where Susquehanna will await the 4-5 winner of Moravian and Drew and Catholic the victor of the 3-6 matchup of Scranton and Juniata in Saturday's quarterfinals.
Much like last year's matchup, Susquehanna and Catholic's Tuesday-night battle was a billing of the top two teams in the Landmark. This year, however, the River Hawks seemed to have the advantage, finishing with a 24-3 lead in shots and 13-2 in shots on goal, along with an 11-2 lead in penalty corners. Susquehanna turned one of those early penalty corners into points as
Ashley Schreffler offered up the first of her two goals on the night six-and-a-half minutes into the contest. Following a shuffling of the ball around the crease,
Lydia Hidlay, who inserted all of SU's penalty corners on the night, put it on line to Schreffler who painted it to the top left corner to give the River Hawks the early advantage. It appeared later on that Hidlay might have had a goal of her own that would have given Susquehanna a two-goal lead in the first half, but it was waived off.
Susquehanna would have to wait until after halftime to make its next move, patiently waiting until near the end of the third period to do so. With Catholic attempting to clear it out of their zone down the near sideline,
Gracie Roush intervened to take the ball away and set up a scoring play. She sought help by crossing it to
Kiara Koeller, who brought it to the near post to bait a defender, then gave it up to Schreffler who buried it in for a 2-0 lead. The game looked to be wrapped up as play progressed through the final quarter, but another penalty corner afforded the River Hawks one final touch. Hidlay inserted to Schmidt, who blasted one to the near post that was deflected by Hidlay to the far post. Waiting there was
Hannah Garlin who got her first goal of the season to help close things out.
Goalkeeper and reigning Landmark Defensive Athlete of the Week
Ashley Derrick hauled in two saves in an otherwise solid effort from the defense. She ups her record to 9-4 on the season and 23-8 in her career, which stands seventh all-time in career wins at Susquehanna. The win also afforded her her third solo shutout of the season and tenth of her career, also good for seventh all-time.
The River Hawks cementing an unprecedented unbeaten conference season, against a nine-team conference no less, adds another milestone to the program in the
Allison Fordyce era. Since taking over the program in 2017 after several seasons as an assistant coach, this is the sixth season in a row (save 2020 due to the pandemic) that the program has amassed at least ten wins, including a combined 59 wins the last four years. After a nine-win campaign her first season at the helm in 2017, the River Hawks won the Landmark in 2018 with an 11-9 record, then ten wins in 2019. The 2021 team reached a new school record with 16 wins in a season, followed by back-to-back 15-win seasons in 2022 and the Landmark-winning 2023 season.
